The invention relates to a vehicle washing installation having two stands on which a nozzle beam with a plurality of high-pressure nozzles is held so as to be adjustable in height.
Such vehicle washing installations are used, in particular, for commercial vehicles, for example, for trucks and special-purpose vehicles. By means of high-pressure nozzles which can be acted upon with a cleaning liquid under pressure, for example, with water, cleaning liquid under pressure can be directed toward the vehicles. The high-pressure nozzles may be constructed as flat jet nozzles or spot jet nozzles, for example, or also as spray nozzles. The nozzle beam is held in a height-adjustable manner on the stands so that it can follow the contour of a vehicle to be cleaned and can assume a short distance from the vehicle. The cleaning effect is thereby increased.
It may be provided that the vehicle is movable relative to the vehicle washing installation. Alternatively, it may be provided that the vehicle washing installation can be moved relative to the standing vehicle. In particular, it may be provided that the vehicle washing installation is configured in the form of a gantry washing installation comprising two stands rigidly connected to each other by a crossbar.
While the vehicle is being cleaned, care must be taken to ensure that the height-adjustable nozzle beam does not collide with parts of the vehicle. A light barrier arranged in front of the nozzle beam in the direction of adjustment of the nozzle beam is normally used for this purpose. The light barrier is aligned transversely to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. If the light barrier is interrupted, the movement of the nozzle beam is stopped in order to avoid damage to the nozzle beam and, above all, damage to the vehicle. However, such light barriers have the disadvantage that vehicle parts permeable to radiation cannot be recognized. Also vehicle parts or vehicle structures which only interrupt the light barrier for a very short time can only be inadequately recognized in many cases. When construction vehicles are cleaned by the vehicle washing installation, there is a danger that, for example, grid structures of the vehicle or also a handle of a shovel inadvertently left on the vehicle and protruding from the vehicle will not be recognized by the light barrier and the nozzle beam will, therefore, collide with the grid-type structure or the handle of the shovel.
The object of the present invention is to so develop a vehicle washing installation of the kind mentioned at the outset that the danger of a collision of the nozzle beam with an obstacle can be reduced.